German Biker/Gang News

[Peter]

At this site: www.rockerportal.de they have translations from german to a lot of different lingoes, thanks to google. So now it is possible to get an idea of what is happening in Germany.

[Peter]

Hells Angels motorcycle clubs banned in German city

Fri Sep 30, 2011

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Citing a history of weapons offences and violence, a German state banned two Frankfurt-based chapters of the Hells Angels on Friday and confiscated their assets.

"These gangs are not in any way made up only of harmless motorbike riders," Hesse state interior minister Boris Rhein said at a televised news conference.

"Many members are known to the police because of violent, drug or weapon-related offences."

The interior ministry said it had the authority to ban clubs when their aims or activities break the law.

A recent report from Germany's federal criminal office showed that one in every 10 investigations into organised crime was linked to a criminal gang of motorbike riders, the ministry said.

Rhein said the authorities were closely monitoring the motorcycle gangs in Hesse and had others in their sights.

"We have a zero-tolerance strategy," he added.

The Hells Angels were formed in California nearly 60 years ago and have chapters spread around the world. There have been chapters in Germany since 1970.

[Peter]

14.09.2010

Hell's Angel member keeps silent at police murder trial

A member of the infamous motorcycle gang Hell's Angels kept his mouth shut on the opening day of a trial in which he's charged with murdering a police officer "execution style."

A Hell's Angel biker gang member remained silent in a state courtroom in Koblenz on Tuesday, where the 44-year-old is charged with the murder of a police officer earlier this year.

The prosecution claims the Hell's Angel shot the officer through the front door of his apartment in an "execution-style killing."

The officers had gone to search the man's apartment. The state prosecutor argued in court on Tuesday that the man " falsely recognized the officers as burglars" who had broken into his apartment before.

He fired two shots through the door at face-level in order "to punish" the burglars for the previous break-in, apparently not realizing that they were police officers.

The man said nothing when asked to explain the incident. It remains unclear how he will plead or whether he will even testify during the proceedings, which are to resume on October 1.

Dozens of police were present in and around the Koblenz court on Tuesday to provide security for the trial's opening.

At least five Hell's Angels, a motorcycle gang widely recognized for crime and violent activity in Germany, were present in court for the opening proceedings.

[Peter]

30.09.2011

Hell's Angels biker gangs shut down in Frankfurt

Displaying the Hell's Angels badges is now an offense

Hell's Angels motorbike gangs have been outlawed from the German city of Frankfurt. State authorities banned the bikers after accusing of them of criminal activity and seizing control of the streets.

State authorities have banned the Hell's Angels motorbike gangs in Frankfurt, on the grounds that they were engaged in criminal activity.

Boris Rhein, interior minister for the state of Hesse, accused the gangs of running drug and prosecution rackets through which they had seized control of the streets.

"This is a clear signal that we won't allow a state within the state," said Rhein, adding that the gangs were disciplined by a vow of silence.

All assets of the outlawed Westend and Frankfurt chapters of the Hell's Angels were seized under the ban. Each chapter is believed that have around 90 members.

Two other Hell's Angels groups were banned in other parts of Germany in June and last year, although gangs in the rest of Germany remain legal.

[Peter]

Berlin considers banning Hells Angels

11 Oct 11

Representatives across all major parties in the newly-elected state parliament of Berlin have spoken out in favour of banning the Hells Angels, a motorcycle gang linked with organized crime, in the German capital.

Green party domestic policy spokesman Benedikt Lux told Tuesday’s edition of the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper that banning the Hells Angels would make sense in Berlin. “But this should be a water-tight ban that can withstand any appeals,” he said.

Lux’s counterpart in the socialist Left party Marion Seelig agreed, adding, “Just as important as banning this group is destroying the networks that it uses.”

Thomas Kleineidam and Peter Trapp, spokesmen for the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) respectively, also spoke out in favour of a ban on the club, which is thought to be involved in drug trafficking and violent crime.

The Berlin police have raided several Hells Angels clubhouses in recent years, while one Hells Angel in Rhineland Palatinate was jailed earlier this year for killing a policeman.

Berlin would be the second German state to pass such a ban. The state of Hesse shut down two branches of the group in September.

The Hells Angels have previously threatened to fight bans at the European Court of Justice.

[Junior]

Hells Angels attack pizza man after car chase
The Local, March 25, 2012

Several members of the Hells Angels biker gang in Berlin attacked an Italian pizza baker and his son with batons and baseball bats early Sunday morning, after chasing down the victims' car.

The Berliner Morgenpost newspaper said members of the gang were sitting outside their club house in Berlin's Wedding district at 3 a.m. when the man and his 17-year-old son drove by in a white Audi.

What followed was a high-speed chase involving three Hells Angels cars.

"When the Italians' Audi stopped, the Hells Angels jumped out of their a cars and started hitting the victims' car with baseball bats, axe handles and telescopic batons," a police officer told the paper.

Two gang members repeatedly tried to stab the driver's son through the passenger window, which had been damaged. The 17-year-old was not injured in the attack.

His father rammed into one of the Hells Angels' trying to escape, but the attackers did not follow him. A short time later, the two victims arrived at a police station to report the incident.

Berliner Morgenpost said the investigation showed that neither of the two victims had any contact with the Hells Angels in the past.

An officer said the fact that the attack seemed to have been motivated purely by a lust for violence underscored how dangerous the group is.

The incident followed a series of fights between rival motorcycle gangs, and multiple arrests on charges of drug dealing and violent crime.

[Peter]

German police target criminal biker gangs

26-4-20012 Deutche Welle

Members of infamous biker gangs such as the Hells Angels, Outlaws and Bandidos are known for violent turf wars, terrorizing entire cities in Germany. The police are now cracking down on them.

Dressed in leather jackets and pants with studded belts, and sporting tatoos and menacing looks, some members of motorcycle gangs such as Hells Angels, Bandidos or Outlaws seem to enjoy their ferocious image. But now the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) is ramping up the pressure on biker gangs.

On Thursday, the northwestern state's Interior Minister Ralf Jäger banned the "MC Bandidos Aachen" gang and five of its sub-groups. More than 600 police officers raided apartments and offices of the club and seized weapons, cash, computers and even a gadget for tapping police wireless.

The biker gangs have long been considered violent, and believed to have links to organized crime. Jäger said the police operation was carried out following tip-offs that the Bandidos "wanted to expand their criminal dominance" in the area in and around the city of Aachen.

Authorities say there is plenty of evidence to show the gangs are gaining strength. "Since mid-2005, the number of biker groups has almost doubled," said Thomas Jungbluth, head of the organized crime unit with NRW's criminal police agency.

The Bandidos alone registered 12 chapters in 2005, Jungbluth said, adding that today that number has grown to 25 chapters with 900 members.

Operating as big firms

Dirk Wilking, motorcycle gang expert at the Brandenburg Institute for Community Consultancy, said the groups operated as "large enterprises" across Germany and Europe. "They especially pursue economic interests and are largely active in the area of organized crime."

The gangs are usually linked to gambling, prostitution, arms dealing, extortion, money laundering and drug trafficking. The big international biker gangs are primarily involved in the drugs trade, including anabolic steroids. The latter, Wilking said, is a relatively new development. "These substances are supplied to fitness clubs, partly by biker gangs," he said.

The gangs constantly try to operate outside the borders of the European Union's Schengen zone, in countries on the edge of Europe where they can set up laboratories to prepare synthetic drugs. "Then they're out of reach of the EU and Europol," Wilking said.

Powerful symbols

The bikers' trademark include riding prestigious motorcycles such as Harley Davidson and sporting leather jackets with their clubs' insignia sown on the back. The Bandidos' patch bears a tubby Mexican wearing a large sombrero and carrying a machete in one hand and a pistol in the other. The Hells Angels' insignia is the "death's head" logo with wings.

The insignia alone is full of powerful symbolism, Wilking said. "It plays a crucial role, because these groups offer a masculine image that hardly conforms to what's acceptable in society anymore: a proper macho, a real man. The law doesn't apply to me. I'm a biker."

That's the reason it's mostly working-class men who attracted to these gangs, Wilking said, even though at times even the occasional lawyer could be found in their ranks. "That's what makes these groups so attractive."

Blocking investigations

But prosecuting criminal bikers is far from easy. "Bikers usually maintain a wall of silence towards any investigations," Jungbluth said. "Even if a member is seriously injured, he will not give any tips that could lead to the perpetrator being caught."

Rather, bikers often make completely implausible statements to block the investigation or make it more difficult. There are hardly any bikers who leave the scene and if they do, they "have to reckon with harsh reprisals," Jungbluth added.

Founded in 1966 in San Antonio, Texas, the Bandidos have their roots in the US army. Their founder was a former Vietnam Marine veteran, Donald Eugene Chambers. His club was a refuge for soldiers who returned back to the US disappointed by the Vietnam war and sought a new home.

The motorcycle embodies the symbol of freedom linked with a strong sense of belonging to the group. The Hells Angels were formed in 1948 in California. After merging with further clubs, the gang expanded to Europe in the 1960s.

Bans are just a temporary solution

Biker expert Dirk Wilking says banning the groups, as was done in North-Rhine Westphalia, is a good approach. The gangs define themselves through their uniformity and their menacing appearance, so it's easy for them to spread an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. "That can only be broken with bans," Wilking said.

But the problem is that it's usually only local groups that are banned - as in the case of North-Rhine Westphalia.

"So you put a permanent ban one chapter of the gang, and then on another, but you don't get to the network of organized crime itself,” Wilking said. The local groups are only the local expression of an international phenomenon.

[Peter]

German courts ban Hell's Angels biker jackets

Wed Apr 25, 2012

BERLIN (Reuters) - German courts have the legal right to forbid "Hells Angels" members from wearing their motorcycle jackets with "death's head" insignia during trials as these could intimidate those involved, Germany's top court ruled on Wednesday.

The Constitutional Court said wearing them was an "unacceptable showing of force that might intimidate and threaten the parties to the proceeding" and a ban was a "preventive condition for a safe and unimpaired trial".

The court overruled a complaint lodged by Hell Angels' member Rayk F., convicted by a civil court in Potsdam to one year prison for complicity in extortion in 2010.

He had forced the owner of a tattoo parlor to "cooperate" with Hells Angels, threatening to snap off his head and intimidating him by placing a dead sheep on his doorstep.

Rayk F. complained his trial was unfair since the presiding judge, in consultation with the police, prohibited him and his Hells Angels backers from wearing their motorcycle club's jackets at the trial.

[Junior]

German police target Hells Angels in large-scale raids
BBC News, May 24, 2012

Police have raided dozens of properties across northern Germany as part of a major investigation into the Hells Angels motorcycle club, reports say.

The operation targeted 80 properties, including brothels and pubs.

It also involved a raid by counter-terror police on the house of the leader of the Hell's Angel chapter in the city of Hanover.

The suspected crimes being investigated include people- and arms trafficking, prosecutors said.

The investigation, which also covers alleged cases of bodily harm and corruption, is primarily aimed at the Hells Angels chapter in the northern city of Kiel, they said.

A court ordered the chapter to be closed earlier this year.

Police are also looking for a corpse thought to be that of an ethnic Turkish man who crossed the bikers, German newspapers report.

The raid on the Hanover home of the Hell's Angels' leader in the city, Frank Hanebuth, involved the elite GSG 9 tactical police unit.

Officers armed with machine-guns and wearing balaclavas broke down a heavy wooden front gate and abseiled from a helicopter to gain entry to the property, media reports say.

They are also reported to have shot a dog belonging to Mr Hanebuth.

Mr Hanebuth, who is thought to have been in the property at the time, is accused of having known of, or even ordering, the crimes being investigated in connection with the Kiel Hells Angels, prosecutors said.

His lawyer, Goetz Von Fromberg, denied the allegations, saying Mr Hanebuth did not know anyone involved in the alleged crimes.

The motorcycle club - the world's largest in terms of membership - has often been linked to organised crime, and is considered an organised crime syndicate by the US Department of Justice.

[Junior]

German Hells Angels Face Massive Criminal Probe

By Markus Deggerich, Hubert Gude and Andreas Ulrich
Spiegel Online International, 6/5/12

It's easy to reach the biker on his cell phone, which is surprising, given his reputation and celebrity status -- and the fact that quite a few police investigators view him as the head of a criminal organization.

Of course Frank Hanebuth, 47, a former boxer, local celebrity and president of the "Hannover Charter" of the Hells Angels biker organization, would prefer to say nothing. He would much rather allow the myths surrounding this men's society to speak for themselves -- the clothing, the militaristic patches, the intimidating symbols.

But silence is no longer an option, not since 5 a.m. on May 24, when members of a German GSG-9 special forces unit roped down from a helicopter above his fortress-like house, shot his Anatolian sheepdog, handcuffed Hanebuth and, during the ensuing raid, seized two laptops, a handful of mobile phones and a few decorative rifles. And silence certainly isn't an option since a star witness told a German court last Thursday that Hanebuth hired him to murder a troublesome rival in the northern German city of Kiel.

On the phone, the biker boss calls the claims made by the witness, former biker Steffen R., nothing but fantasy. He is still audibly upset about the police raid on his property, the death of his dog and the fact "that my 11-year-old son had to see it all." In contrast, he coolly rejects the murder-for-hire accusation, saying that he doesn't even know Steffen R. or Tekin Biçer, the alleged Turkish-born murder victim.

And what about the claim made by the star witness that as a reward for the murder, a Hells Angel was allowed in Hamburg to establish his own charter, the term the organization uses to describe their local groups? "It's all nonsense," says Hanebuth. There was never a contract killing, nor were any such orders issued in Kiel. "I'm the president of Hannover, and that's all," he says. The alleged murder was used as a pretext, says Hanebuth, but the real goal was to "make accidental discoveries to support an effort to ban the organization."

In truth, what is at stake at the moment is not just Frank Hanebuth, the colorful owner of a security company, a real-estate management company and two brothels, but the very existence of the Hells Angels in Germany. Its will depend on whether the star witness, a man with a criminal past, told the truth.

Breaking the Code of Silence

Steffen R., 40, accused of procuring, extortion and assault -- charges he overwhelmingly denies -- complied with the bikers' code of silence and said nothing during his eight months in pretrial detention. But in mid-February R., the former leader of "Legion 81," a Hells Angels auxiliary group, started talking. He revealed details on the biker gang's illegal business dealings, about prostitution, drugs and protection money -- and about alleged contract killings.

The ex-convict from the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt was questioned about 12 times. He told investigators about a second contract killing that Hanebuth had allegedly approved, although it was not mentioned in court last week. According to R.'s statements, Hanebuth had given the "green light" to kill the leader of the Tigers biker gang, a man named Hakan. R. claimed that Hanebuth had said that it was to be done in such a way as "not to attract a lot of attention." Three Hells Angels members were then given orders to spy on Hakan. However, Steffen R. could not say why the murder plan was not carried out. Hanebuth also characterizes this accusation as "complete nonsense."

The star witness's extensive testimony led to the massive police strike against the Hell Angels on May 24. In a major operation, some 1,200 officers raided bars, brothels and apartments in northern Germany. On the outskirts of Kiel, experts used heavy equipment to search a warehouse where, according to R., the body of Tekin Biçer, who had disappeared, had been buried in the concrete foundation. The public prosecutor's office is conducting about 200 investigations against 69 defendants.

So far, no insider has come clean to the extent that R. did. His statements sharpen the authorities' focus on the Hells Angels, and they support the theories of investigative authorities, if they are indeed true. According to those theories, the bikers form a hierarchically structured organization not unlike the mafia.

For years, Germany's Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) has noticed that bikers are increasingly involved in cases of organized crime. They now control the red-light districts in many cities. And in places where they are not yet in control, they use brutality, and weapons like machetes, axes and firearms, to expand their influence.

According to BKA Vice President Jürgen Stock, the Hells Angels show "a high potential for violence and brutal clashes, even in public spaces." The police have regularly found pistols, hand grenades and explosives during searches.

'Unsettling Characteristics'

An internal BKA report finds that the four largest German biker clubs -- the Hells Angels, Bandidos, Outlaws and Gremium -- count more than 3,500 members. The gangs try to cover up their criminal dealings, say the investigators, with supposedly clean companies, such as security companies, bars and brothels. Security companies, in particular, are often used in protection rackets, say the report's authors.

The bikers like to portray themselves publicly as tough guys with soft hearts. Hanebuth, for example, has been a guest at gentleman's evenings hosted by Hannover celebrity attorney Götz von Fromberg, parties attended by local notables like Carsten Maschmeyer, Michael Frenzel and former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

Cultivating ties with politicians and business leaders is part of the concept, while donations to social causes are a helpful public relations tool. The Bandidos, for example, handed a check to a pediatric cancer organization in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, while the Hells Angels have donated money to organizations supporting Alzheimer patients. BKA Vice President Stock calls this pure camouflage, saying: "These are extremely unsettling characteristics of organized crime."

Investigators have also noticed a "massive pressure to expand" into Southern Europe among some Hells Angels groups. According to the European police agency Europol, there are efforts underway on the so-called Balkan route, a classic path for heroin coming into Central Europe, to start new groups in countries like Croatia, Serbia, Albania and Turkey. The EU authorities believe that the bulk of the profits from the drug trade are deposited in Swiss banks.

Europol has been gathering information about bikers, which it calls "outlaw motorcycle gangs," for more than 10 years. Officials say that biker gangs count their largest membership in Germany. According to Europol, 64 percent of all bikers have criminal records. "In almost every house search, the police find weapons and drugs," reports an official at Europol headquarters in The Hague.

Europol's conclusions coincide with the investigations by Berlin authorities, which recently lead to the banning of the "Hells Angels Motorcycle Club Berlin City." According to the official order banning the club, anyone who got in the way of the bikers' business dealings was "eliminated through attempts at intimidation or, if necessary, with violence that led to serious injuries and even death."

Leaks from Authorities

According to the State Office of Criminal Investigation (LKA), the authorities could have -- and should have -- taken action against Kadir P., the future head of the gang, as long ago as 2008. A source at the LKA says that a bill to issue a ban on the biker gang already existed at the time, but it never made it past the internal administration of the city-state's senate.

Hells Angels members claim that they have known about the senate's preparations for a ban since February. The fact that they were told in advance about the timing of a raid in Berlin last week, so that police ended up raiding empty premises, was the high point of an apparently long-standing, productive relationship between the bikers and corrupt officials.

The circle of suspects is large. There are two special commissions at the LKA that handle biker crime, but a leak in the administration or judiciary also cannot be ruled out.

The chumminess between biker gangs and the police is also glaringly evident elsewhere. Some police officers are apparently very attracted to the motorcycle gangs, with their rituals and uniforms, their insignias and macho behavior. In 2010, authorities in the western city of Essen investigated an officer with the criminal investigation department who had allegedly given the Bandidos information from his office computer.

That same year, five officers were suspended in Frankfurt, including a 50-year-old first senior commissioner with the LKA, because they had allegedly sent internal information to the Hells Angels. Two defendants were even accused of dealing in drugs. In another case in Berlin, the police found a note during a search that read: "You don't have to kick down the door. It's open."

According to star witness Steffen R., three officials in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein -- one each from the police, the prison system and the Kiel city administration -- helped the Hells Angels with their business dealings. State Interior Minister Klaus Schlie is outraged over the "lengths that the bikers went to infiltrate government structures."

Central Investigation Needed

Schlie was the first German cabinet minister in many years to introduce a motion in 2010 to ban the Bandidos and the Hells Angels. Some of his counterparts in other German states took a dim view of the dynamic, down-to-earth and fearless Schlie. But a conference of state interior ministers last Thursday, Schlie noted with satisfaction that there was a new receptiveness among his counterparts. Impressed by the statements of the star witness, a number of state interior ministers are now thinking about changing their tune. Schlie is even taking things a step further, saying: "If suspicions are borne out in the current trials that the bikers constitute a criminal network, and that certain individuals are assuming leadership positions in these criminal structures, it will be time to think about a nationwide ban."

Experts are increasingly skeptical that the fight against the lawless gangs can be waged successfully, in light of the intricacies of state bureaucracies. The chairman of the Association of German Police Officers (BDK), André Schulz, is convinced that a nationwide phenomenon like biker gangs also needs to be "centrally investigated."

For Schulz, the most recent accusations against Frank Hanebuth show that the local or regional charters are not nearly as independent as claimed, and that a concerted intervention by federal security agencies could make sense.

Just how powerful Hanebuth really is, and how far his interest reaches, became clear in May 2010. In the law office of his friend and attorney, Götz von Fromberg, Hanebuth made a big fuss about sealing a nationwide peace treaty with Bandidos leader Peter Maczollek. The handshake between sworn enemies was binding for all Hells Angels in Germany, and it also sealed the agreement not to establish a new charter for a year.

The search for the body that was allegedly embedded in concrete will continue this week. Interior Minister Schlie refuses to back down, and he is convinced that the star witness is reliable. In one detail, however, his investigators have had to explain to him that Steffen R. was apparently wrong. The star witness had testified that another biker was allowed to form his own charter in Poland to help solve the suspected murder of Tekin Biçer.

When the biker gang celebrated its newest charter with much fanfare on April 10, 2010, Tekin Biçer had not disappeared yet. That happened 20 days later.Also attending the party were two bikers who still accuse each other of lying today: Steffen R. and Frank Hanebuth.

[jeph]

André Sommer, until recently president of the HA Berlin Nomads was shot 5 times at close range this morning. One bullet went into his heart, he is still alive, but for how long...


You can find his picture here..

http://www.zitty.de/hells-angels.html

and an article here:

http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/rock...8,16339168.html

[Junior]

Hells Angel under police guard after attack
The Local, 11 June, 2012

The head of a Berlin Hells Angels gang is in an artificial coma in hospital - under 24-hour armed police guard after being shot six times on Sunday morning.

Detectives were on Monday morning still at a loss as to who had shot André Sommer, who until about two weeks ago had been chief of the “Nomads” Hells Angels chapter – that is until he disbanded after getting wind of a potential ban from Berlin’s state interior minister.

Police have issued a plea for witnesses, although it would seem unlikely that anyone would come forward and potentially step into a biker gang war.

Sommer disbanded the gang ahead of the official ban and accompanying raids – and thus prevented the authorities seizing property or money. Berlin police launched an investigation within their own ranks to try to find the mole who had tipped off the gang.

The 47-year-old was shot six times at close range in the early hours of Sunday as he left his restaurant at the end of the night.

The attack has not only left Sommer seriously injured, but also provoked speculation of a possible biker gang war, either between the Hells Angels and rival group the Bandidos – or within the ranks of the Hells Angels themselves.

The Berlin-based Tagesspiegel newspaper said on Monday that Sommer had instructed his “Nomads” members to organise new groups in the region around Berlin and suggested that some of his own Angels may have had their noses put out of joint during the reorganisation.

The German authorities have carried out enormous raids against Hells Angels and Bandidos gangs across the country over the last few weeks.

More than 1,000 police officers were involved in a series of raids in the north of the country after one Hells Angel charged with a range of offences including blackmail, human trafficking and pimping decided to talk.

He named names as he told prosecutors about executions and even torture allegedly carried out by the gang, the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper said. His information also sparked the still on-going operation at a workshop near Kiel for the body of a man said to be cemented into the building’s foundations.

[Junior]

Top Hells Angel gets four years in jail
The Local, June 14, 2012

A German court has jailed a top Hells Angel for more than four years for a series of crimes including human trafficking and grievous bodily harm. His testimony sparked raids across the country and a hunt for a body cemented into a building.

The man named only as Steffen R., who is now in a witness protection scheme, ran a “terror brigade” called Legion 81 out of Kiel – in support of the Hells Angels in the city, said state prosecutor Alexander Ostrowski in his closing remarks in court.

The case being heard by the Kiel district court yielded more than evidence about Steffen R.’s own crimes – he described in detail the structures of the biker gang in the region. Since then he has been under police protection at a secret location for fear of attacks.

“The criminal justice authorities will not tolerate a small group putting its interests over those of others and developing its own regime,” said Ostrowski.

But he said he was only calling for a relatively mild sentence because the accused had distanced himself from his former comrades and had put himself in danger by giving evidence against the Hells Angels.

Steffen R.’s testimony led to huge raids last month in three states across northern Germany involving more than 1,000 police officers. Detectives are still working at a warehouse in Altenholz near Kiel where they hope to find the remains of a missing man concreted into the foundations.

[jeph]

Hells Angels in Hanover dissolved
Faster than the police
Taz.de

In Hanover, the Hells Angels club foresaw a possible ban and has been disbanded. The police attributed this to the "persistent" investigation.

The Hells Angels in Hanover pre-empted a ban and have been disbanded. So the Hanover charter followed that of Potsdam, which had already announced its end in mid-June. Apparently the pressure from the ongoing investigation by the police had finally become too great. The state police believes that the resolution was made because of it.

For years the club in Hanover, under its president, Frank Hanebuth, controlled the red light and entertainment district at the stone gate. After mounting criticism, the club had however withdrawn in November last year from the district. The reas, Fanr Hanebuth said was an "unprecedented and unwarranted smear campaign", that "unsuspecting journalists and many politicians" have led against him, and his company and the business owners at the stone gate.

The police announced to observe the further development of the MC scene, even after the resolution . In recent months there have been no but "power struggles in the environment," said the police. "However, we will now look carefully whether it really is disolving , or the announcement of the resolution is just lip service," said Frank Federau, spokesman for the State Criminal Police Office.

According to Federau the resolution is beacaus of the the "persistent police work", which was in the past few months very strong against the Hells Angels. The revelations of an Ex-member of the now defunct Legion Kiel group 81, an auxiliary of the Hells Angels had led to a major police raid in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Lower Saxony on may 24, using about 1,200 police officers . Here also the private home of Hanebuth was searched.

The Police Commissioner welcomes the resolution

Hanover police chief Axel Brockmann welcomed the resolution explicitly. "Hanover is better of without the Hells Angels," he said. Also, Hanover Mayor Stephan Weil (SPD) was satisfied. "The Hells Angels have behaved in the Hanover district Steintor at times in a manner that was not acceptable," he said.

In the neighboring state of Schleswig-Holstein, Flensburg, the Hells Angels after repeated violent clashes with Bandidos i have been banned in april 2010. The end of January was followed by a prohibition of the charter Kiel. On 19 June hthe Higher Administrative Court have confirmed the prohibition of the charter Flensburg. In Berlin, the Hells Angels were already banned. In Nieder Sachsen they aim for a ban on the club, but are still gathering solid evidence, to get the ban in court.

[Peter]

Frank Hanebuth with all his gongs.

[Peter]

Picture in the link: http://www.rudaw.net/english/world/4924.html

Kurdish Motorcycle Gang Formed in Germany

06/07/2012

COLOGNE, Germany — A Kurdish biker gang has emerged in Cologne, Germany. The group calls itself MC Median Empire, after the ancient Medes, who some believe were the forefathers of the modern Kurds. “MC” stands for a type of powerful horse used by the Medes.

The Kurdish group has posted on their website that the Medes were warriors and mighty knights, and that the only difference between them and the prehistoric tribe is that they ride motorcycles instead of horses. Members wear leather jackets stamped with the MC Median Empire logo.

The most notorious biker gangs in Germany are the Hells Angels and the Bandidos. Members of these gangs are known for their violence, which has terrorized entire cities in Germany. Often these rival clubs are involved in organized crime including robbery, arms dealing, drug trafficking and prostitution.

German police expect trouble between the MC Median Empire and other biker gangs in the country. The Hells Angels are known to not accept other gangs operating in their territory.

At the beginning of this year, four people were injured when a dispute broke out between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos. Four months later, a member of the Bandidos was gunned down by the Hells Angels.

The MC Median Empire has not yet been involved in any illegal activities, though the group is under police surveillance.

A spokesperson for the German police said, “We will continue to watch this group just like other gangs.”

The Hells Angels were formed in 1948 in California and expanded into Europe in the 1960s. It has 32 branches around the world. The German branch in Hamburg was established in 1973, after which other biker gangs such as the Bandidos set up in the country.

[Peter]

Fears of violence as Berlin biker war escalates

Published: 9 Jul

Berlin police have warned that biker gangs could use more guns and explosives as they fight for survival after a crackdown by authorities. Police also fear that Scandinavian organised crime networks may get involved.

"We have to assume that, alongside the well-known edged and blunt weapons, firearms and explosives will be used," a memo to all the city's police stations said.

“All engaged forces are requested to particularly check vehicles from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland,” it said, according to the BZ newspaper on Monday.

A police crackdown on Hells Angels and Bandidos - the biker gangs involved in organized crime across Germany - has thrown the scene into chaos, the paper said.

A new "Rocker Task Force" has been set up to make life as difficult for them as possible.

"Our line is zero tolerance," state prosecutor Jörg Raupach, who leads the task force, said on Saturday. "Whether it's abuse, driving without a license, drink driving - we will prosecute every crime. No investigation into the bikers - no matter how small - will be given up."

The Hells Angels "Berlin City" chapter was banned by state Interior Minister Frank Henkel in May, though that has done little to prevent the increasing violence.

Former Hells Angels leader André Sommer was gunned down in June, and several gang members subsequently appeared at the entrance to Berlin's Charité hospital to guard the 47-year-old as he lay in an artificial coma.

Two Bandidos were have also been shot at in the past few days.

Police believe that Berlin is home to between 400 and 500 Hells Angels, and slightly fewer Bandidos, and that the two groups are currently locked in a deadly power struggle over the city.

The gangs are thought to be involved in a number of organized criminal activities, including protection rackets, drug and weapons dealing, and human trafficking for prostitution.

But police have struggled to solve the crimes, because victims are reluctant to speak. "As long as no victim talks, we won't get much further," said Raupach. "We have to get a foot in the door."

Investigators are also hoping to help gang members get out of the scene. "We're trying to break one or two out," the prosecutor added. "And we have managed, but there are no quick successes."

"But our signal to the criminal scene is clear," he concluded. "We're watching you. We're always on your heels."

A former Hells Angels associate was jailed for more than four years in the northern city of Kiel last month. He was placed in a witness protection scheme after revealing details of regional biker gangs.

His testimony prompted huge raids across three states in May – and the destruction of a warehouse where police hope to find the remains of a missing man in the building's concrete foundations.

The Local/DPA/bk

[Peter]

A member of HA mc Germany got 12 years for killing a member of Outlaws mc Germany back in 2009.

[Junior]

Biker gang war in Berlin 'goes Scandinavian'
The Local, August 1, 2012

Police say they foiled a murderous revenge attack by one biker gang on another when they stopped three Scandinavia-based men heading for Germany equipped with explosives, detonators and bullet-proof vests.

The arrests, made last month but only revealed on Wednesday, would seem to justify fears that the Scandinavian gang war between Hells Angels and Bandidos could spread to Germany in the wake of police pressure, closure of some clubs – and crucially, some members switching between gangs.

Raids on gang addresses are becoming routine, with Wednesday seeing more in Eberswalde, Cottbus and Britz in Brandenburg as well as Karlsruhe, Bautzen, Chemnitz and Dresden. These latest were in connection with the banning of the Berlin City Hells Angels chapter.

Berlin police issued dire warnings in early July. Now, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reports, it appears this came after the arrest of the three men.

A tip from Sweden led to the arrests in the northern port town of Rostock of a Swede, a Macedonian and an Iranian – the latter two of whom live in Denmark. Two are alleged to be Bandido members while the third was said to be in close contact to the gang.

Arriving in a rented car from Denmark on the ferry, the three men had nearly a kilo of explosives, a detonator and bullet-proof vests. The men are still in investigative custody, the newspaper said.

Authorities in Berlin are keeping the men they think would have been targets of the attack under observation.

Police sources told the paper this would probably include the former head of the Berlin Bandidos chapter who switched to the Hells Angels in May in order to avoid an official ban.

Those who know the scene say that switching loyalties is punishable and that the Bandidos have lost influence within Berlin to the Hells Angels and could thus be launching attacks to win back territory.

Violence between the gangs has escalated over the last few months, while the Hells Angels issued what amounted to a declaration of war at the start of July, saying no other gang would be tolerated in Berlin.

Hells Angels leader André Sommer was shot at the start of June, while a month later two Bandidos were also shot, during a meeting of the gang’s leadership.

“Berlin is of great strategic importance for the rival gangs,” Berlin’s Interior Minister Frank Henkel said. “He who loses influence in Berlin loses it in the whole of eastern Germany. That is why there is conflict here.”

[GangstersInc]

Thanks for posting these, Junior! Great job!